Suns fan here, and I don't get this trade at all. The main reason is, Ayton's stock has taken a huge dip in the last few months. Rather than give up and cash out, we should have held out if there wasn't a good deal. Ben Simmons was an negative asset, and by waiting 6 months, Philadelphia got James Harden back by waiting. There is zero reason to give up.

Second off: this doesn't help the team. The biggest weakness the team has is that it is very reliant on 3 star wings that have an injury history. Ayton isn't the healthiest, but is 4 years younger than Nurkic, and has played more in general. If we had solid backups, that my be fine, but the team is very weak at the big positions. And it isn't like Grayson Allen is some HUGE pickup that to overcome the weaknesses we take on with downgrading at center. The team seems objectively worse.

Third off: I have had one championship in my lifetime (Diamondbacks in 2001). That team was a bit of a unique situation because they were an expansion team that got all the right pieces early, but I still loved the big players. Johnson, Schilling, and Gonzales all joined the team at 30 or layer, and stayed 4-7 more years with the team. They felt like they wanted to be in Phoenix, and be on that team. The community loved them, and they loved them back.

This current Suns team is 15 months away from a 64 win season, and the only players who saw any consistent play time still on the team are Devin Booker and Bismack Biyombo. The rest of the team are guns for hire. They will do their job, but move on to the next place in a few years. Even if the Phoenix Suns organization wins the championship, it won't be won by a team that I watched struggle to get there.

I really thought that Booker, Johnson, Bridges and Ayton was a solid core that would put the Suns near the top of the league for a decade. It is so sad to all of it gone.

This device is FPGA, and not emulation. The chip recreates itself to act exactly as the N64's chips would run. The benefits are that you get less input lag, more accurate gameplay, and you can use your original cartridges/controllers in a plug and play set up.

This doesn't replace emulation, but if you are serious about playing older console games, Analogue's FPGA products are a great premium solution.

Just to clarify, Jobst is talking about the sealed, high end gaming market. The used copy of Mario Party 3 you are waiting to buy is still $60. The open prices are the ones I care about, because they affect me the most (and I would wager, 99.9% of collectors).

What do you want in Mario Kart 9? Is it just a new title, or is there something mechanically that you want iterated on?

I would do the same thing I do with rare, single use items in video games (Think the Master Ball). I would save it indefinitely in case there is a time that I really need it in the future. I would die having never used it.

I first, I thought this was consolidating the line to a single SKU, and letting you add the drive yourself for a small premium. Instead, this looks like this is a new model with a reworking interior to save a bit on cost, and heat/power.

The one good thing, is that now every PS5 is a "Physical Edition." It is also way more likely in the decades to come you can get a 3rd party drive, and hack it to work. Without the size or soldiering being an issue, it is more likely we can see 3rd party replacements.

The college football group has been doing one game thread, for watching and post game discussion. Especially in the regular season, I think this is the right call. Monday night games that aren't on national TV are going to get low to no engagement anyway. Splitting that discussion up to 2 threads will fracture the small discussion.

For the playoffs, I could see us wanting to split it up to game and post-game threads.

I would say I don't like the idea of doing game threads as chat only on other services. I want more in-depth discussion, and making us go to a real time chat system will make any real effort drowned out by the low quality chats of "Wow" or "That's Traveling."

Analogue is doing everything safe though. The products are marketed and intended for you to play your physical cartridges on new hardware. Nintendo isn't even going after emulators, which despite the hoops we try to jump through, are really primarily used for piracy. That is because the emulation developers are avoiding any copywritten work. Even then, the only ROM sites that Nintendo has really gone after are the ones selling the games.

Short of a new law or precedent being set, Analogue is in the clear here.

I think you have a fundamentally different view than I do on the characters. They are all fundamentally nice people. The difference is, they get fixated on small issues, and let it control their actions. Jerry dates a woman that only looks good in bright light? Only go on dates that have good lighting. It is something you would want to do too, but you would have the control to not let it run the relationship. Jerry doesn't have that control, and focuses on the good lighting at the expense of everything else.

The characters aren't mean. They didn't wish I'll on anyone. Many of the episodes are them trying to find a way to get out of a situation without being honest because they think the truth would hurt too. Idiots, yes, not not jerks.

For another example. There is an episode where a waiter accidentally puts a menu on a candle and it lights on fire. George points it out, puts the fire out, and casually mentions "I think the busboy put the menu too close to the candle." The manager overhears this, and fires the busboy. George then finds the busboy to try and help him get another job, but leaves the front door open, and the busboy's cat escapes. It is the perfect example of what the characters are. They don't want to hurt people, and go to extreme lengths to do it, even though it always backfires.

I know it isn't the most accurate, but New Super Mario Bros U on Wii U had 5.6 Million units in lifetime sales. Mario Wonder is at 4.3M two weeks in. I think Wonder is going to match NSMBU around Thanksgiving day.

Just crazy to think about the shift in the decade between these two releases.

I feel like your comment is the most reasonable explanation. The charity sounds like it isn't actively being run. It is probably a misunderstanding. I can see the charity paying for a group to run the charity, but because their income is very small, they want the charity ran frugally, and are paying the minimum required for management. The management is running the account, making sure taxes are filed, etc, but Jirard thought they were dispersing the funds too. They don't talk much, other than a quick review at tax season, and the issue is never addressed, because both sides don't interact enough to see the difference.

This video really frustrated me, because Jobst is claiming things "Fraud" when the evidence he provided looks nothing like that. It isn't great PR, but nothing so far looks remotely illegal, or even unethical. The internet just loves ragging on a "bad guy," and are eager to get mad at the bad guy of the day.

1. Texas
2. Ohio State
3. Oregon
4. Penn State
5. Miami
6. Georgia
7. Iowa State
8. BYU
9. Alabama
10. Boise State
11. Clemson
12. Ole Miss
13. Tennessee
14. Missouri
15. Utah
16. Texas A&M
17. LSU
18. Oklahoma
19. Notre Dame
20. Indiana
21. Kansas State
22. Pitt
23. Army
24. Navy
25. Liberty

A quick overview of my methodology. I’m sure you can find contradictions, but I do try to stick to this.

At this point in the season, I try to make the ranking 25% how good I think the team actually is, and 75% what the resume says. As we go on, the resume gets more bias.

A few principles that I try to apply.

1. If you are 5-0 or better, I’ll put you in. It is hard enough to get there, that even with an easier schedule, it should get you ranked. I do this for 2 reasons. First, I want to reward winning. Second, if greater 6 teams never get ranked despite what they do on the field, why bother to say they are apart of the league? Even if all these greater 6 drop a game, I’ll still try to put one or two of them up there, if I can justify it.
2. I try to use a blind resume, where you consider the resume’s content regardless of the name. The biggest effect that this has is that I effectively ignore head to head. You can look at my poll, and complain that I ranked Georgia above Alabama, and cry afoul that Alabama beat Georgia, and should be ahead. I don’t care, because Georgia has a better resume than Alabama. You can make the same complaint against my Texas A&M/Notre Dame ranking. It doesn’t change my results.
3. I value bad losses more than I do good wins. Again, going with Alabama and Georgia, I put more weight on the fact that Alabama lost to Vanderbilt, then I do that Alabama beat Georgia. I value reliability. If you can’t show up for the “easy wins”, then I will punish you much more than I will reward you for showing up for the big games.

Reports are that they need at least 2 more members to stay as a conference. My guess is they want to find 2 more schools that can tide them over. Then, when the MWC is up for tv rights, and there isn't a huge buyout to leave, then the Pac8 can grab what they want. Which ones would they want? I have no idea, I would be guessing at random.

I think it is clear that the 4 teams that left were wanted by the Pac2, even if it took a chunk of cash to break contracts and get them there.

Who could the other 2 teams be to get the conference to 8? I have no idea. Ignoring any Mountain West schools, I don't know who you would go after. There is probably a discussion with North Dakota State and South Dakota State, but I think they would rather stay in the dominate role of FCS. Then you start looking at all the other names that get thrown around. UTEP, Memphis, Tulane, USF, Uconn. I'm sure there are others, I can't think of any as I quickly type this. Regardless, these are all huge travel distances, and I don't think any give a significant boost to the conference.

It is really a shame, because it feels like if Stanford/Cal were still in with these other 6, it would be a solid 5th place conference. A step behind the BigXII, but a step above the best G5. It probably wouldn't, but if you could get to an auto-qualifying bid into the conference, that would be worth it to everyone involved.

It is still a shame. The Pac 12 dissolving was bad for everyone. The one bright spot was that I felt the MWC and Pac 12 merging would be beneficial to everyone. It just made too much sense. The problem is, these big decisions aren't made on a conference or national level. They are made by the individual schools each trying to look out for themselves.

Just to make clear, it is $20 a year. If you get a family plan, it is $35 a year for up to 8 accounts. Even if you get 3 other people, you are looking at $9 a year. Yes, free would be better, but it is far from a scam as others have been saying.

Plastic will get scratched, but won't shatter. I honestly think a plastic screen with a glass protector is the ideal option.

Because, for a touch screen, the screen itself IS the user interface. Imagine while holding with one hand, you want to reach your thumb to the opposite corner to hit a button. Even if the body of the phone is the same, a larger screen will need a bigger reach for your thumb. That is primary issue.

We are such cowards. No love for Army or Navy?

Utah is the big winner this week, going from "33" up to 25 all on a bye week. All teams should learn from this.

Great game so far. One point difference is all. UCF is playing a bit better, but is has had too many penalties and turnovers to win this game. That can all change in the second half of course.

Ok, I'll bite. Let's assume Youtube follows your advice, and stops showing ads on YouTube. Data collection is the only source of revenue. How does YouTube make money on that data? Be specific please. Who is buying the data, and what is the buyer going to do the data besides show you a targeted ad?

Do you mind if I ask a few questions? I got some bone conducting headphones for cycling and walking around. I found when I wore them cycling, even at max volume, I could barely hear act sound. However, after about 30 seconds, my ears start to hurt. If I put my finger in my ear to block the ambient noise, and the volume is actually extremely loud.

I have tried in different environments, and I find I podcasts can't be heard clearly at all unless it is a quiet room. I have come to the conclusion that the technology just doesn't work for podcasts, and is better for music where you don't need the clearest sound.

Your comment sounds like podcasts work fine for you, even in a noisy environment. The only thing I can think, is either my headphones are too cheap (I got a no name brand, but it was middle tier price), or my skull is shaped a bit differently, and I can't get a good connection. Do you have any thoughts? Do you ever experience ear pain in order to hear a podcast?